I am a physician, currently practicing as an Anesthesiologist. My other passions are finance and investments. As of 2013, I have passed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams, all in my first attempts. I received my Masters of Business Administration degree in 2008. I received my certification as a securities specialist from the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2009.

For over a week now, I have been exclusively using Uber to get to work. I have a car – but traffic congestion, bad weather, parking costs and space unavailability, corrupt traffic policemen, road rage drivers, accident prone roads – have discouraged me from driving. Since I’m a doctor who take frequent car trips daily, Uber makes a lot of money from me.

This had me thinking – How can I turn the tables and make money from Uber or Grab Car?

AlDub (stands for the love team of Alden Richards and Yaya Dub) is breaking all sorts of social media records recently. Ratings for Eat Bulaga, the show that features the two, are at their highest in years.

It is expected that many companies will cash in on the popularity of the AlDub phenomenon. To get the business of the millions of AlDub fans, these companies (especially the larger ones), should compensate Eat Bulaga, Alden and Maine Mendoza (who plays Yaya) for riding on the trend. This is especially true if the likeness of “AlDub” is used.

Social media is in everything this days, even in finance and investments. Unfortunately, finance related stuff doesn’t really trend in social media; at least here in the Philippines. The hashtag #ParaSaEkonomiya (For the Economy) is often used these days, but most of the posts don’t really relate to the economy. Sadly that hashatag has become a punchline.

Beginning with this post, Finance MD will regularly feature social media posts related to Philippine finance and investments. #ParaSaEkonomiya indeed.

Senyora Santibanez @Senyora is the Philippines’ most popular twitter parody account, so much so that it is actually the 47th most popular among all twitter accounts in the country. It’s safe to say that she’s more famous and has more clout than most real celebrities in the Philippines.

In recent years, there has been a perception that Eat Bulaga, a Philippine noontime variety show, is for a more mature crowd. It’s the moms, dads, uncles, aunts and grandparents at home that still loyally watch them. Eat Bulaga’s rival, It’s Showtime, is reputed to more popular to the younger, more social media savvy crowd.

Fast Forward to 2015, Eat Bulaga connected big with the younger market through #AlDub. If there was a Philippine version of “breaking the internet”, the Aldub phenomenon did it on August 8.